#4144

Wellllll ...... I wasn't going to write today - this morning's ride was nice and normal and we've had enough of those. Coming home this afternoon, however, had some high spots, so can't resist the post. It was the same bus as this morning, so one wonders if this craft wanted so much to be featured in the blog that it arranged circumstances to make me want to write. Anything is possible, eh?

This morning, there was a sign in the window of the bus, 66N, and the overhead lighted sign wasn't working. This afternoon, there was no sign in the window and the overhead still wasn't working. A man at the bus stop gave the driver a very hard time for having no sign. She seemed impatient at being asked which bus it was, but what does she expect when there is no sign and the stop has four different routes that use it? Haven't we visited this before? Anyway, I got on and started to read. The buses have these electronic lady voices that announce major intersections and where transfers to other bus routes can occur. The lady voice is lovely, enthusiastic - ending every phrase on the upbeat - almost makes you excited at the possibility of a transfer. You get used to the sound and eventually don't listen. So I'm riding along and suddenly a man's voice loudly states, "Please remember to take your personal items when exiting the bus." I almost dropped my book. I have never heard this announcement before and it actually sounded like it came from a microphone, not the electronic lady-voice place. It was very reminiscent of the "mind the gap" announcements on the London tube. I have been a regular rider since August, 2005, and never once heard this before. No one else seemed to react, so maybe my timing has just been off and everyone else has heard it time and again? Whatever, I was taken aback as they say. It actually felt like a guy at the bus garage was looking at us through the camera and wanted to make sure he didn't have to put more stuff in the lost and found? It never repeated during the rest of the ride and I couldn't quite figure out how to phrase a question about it to the driver. She was in a pissy mood anyway with all the what-bus-is-it questions she'd been fielding. Might ask our regular morning guy.

We stopped at Baseline and Mill when a white van pulled in front of the bus, backed up a bit and parked. It seemed to want to block the bus and a man in a fluorescent road guard vest got out and came back to the bus. The driver opened the door and the guy handed her a yellow piece of paper with 66S printed on it in black marker. The driver told the man to place it in the window, he did and left. Apparently she had made arrangements to solve her bus ID problem. Not sure it means she can be cranky, but at least she was trying.

Needless to say, after this ride of bus firsts, I had to post on the blog.